1. Engaging with the NI Assembly Health Committee
Andrew Dougal - Chair, Public Health Agency
Paula Bradley MLA - outgoing Chair NI Assembly Health Committee
Eilis Haughey - Clerk, NI Assembly Health
Committee

2. Engaging with the Committee for Health
Éilis Haughey
Clerk to Committee for Health

3. Context Belfast / Good Friday Agreement 1998
Referenda North and South
First election June 1998
Northern Ireland Act 1998 (as amended)
Suspension: Oct 2002 – May 2007
St Andrews Agreement 2006
Devolution: present
Stormont House Agreement Dec 2014
A Fresh Start Agreement Nov 2015
Devolved Assembly; ‘power-sharing’ government
North-South Institutions, East-West Institutions

4. The Assembly 90 MLAs: 5 MLAs for each of the 18 constituencies
MLAs are elected by Single Transferable Vote
Elections 2 March 2017:
DUP: 28 seats
Sinn Fein: 27
SDLP: 12
UU: 10
Alliance Party: 8
Green: 2
Others: 3

5. Committees: Appointment & Composition
9 Statutory Committees (one for each of the Departments)
6 Standing Committees – AERC; Audit; Business; Procedures; Standards and Privileges; Public Accounts
11 Members on each Committee
Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson appointed using d’Hondt system of proportional representation
Chairperson from a different party than Minister

6. Powers and Duties
NI Act 1998, s.29: “advise and assist …in the formulation of policy”
Good Friday /Belfast Agreement 1998*: “scrutiny, policy development and consultation role” inc.:
consider and advise on departmental budgets an annual plans in the context of the overall budget allocation;
take the Committee stage of relevant primary legislation and consider relevant secondary legislation;
call for persons and papers;
initiate inquiries and make reports; and
consider and advise on matters brought to the Committee by the Minister.
* Strand 1, para 9. (supplemented by Standing Orders 46-64C – operational detail)

7. Committee Business: opportunities to engage
Strategic Planning meetings – 2/yr approx - priority themes / inquiries agreed
The Forward-Work Programme is managed by Committee staff and usually covers a 3 month period; available on website
Issues brought forward by the Minister/Department
- Legislation (Primary and Subordinate/Secondary)
- Budgets
- Policy Papers
- Ministerial Statements
- Events
Work initiated by Committee
- Inquiries
- Stakeholder Events
- Study Visits

8. Engaging during an Inquiry: process
Agreement on theme / terms of reference
Call for evidence (NIA website, 3 newspapers & social media)
Targeted letters
Research commissioned
Receipt of written submissions
Oral evidence sessions with selected stakeholders
Engagement with Department / agencies
Deliberations and agreement on recommendations
Report published, debate in Assembly
Department provides committee with detailed explanation of Bill
Call for evidence issued publicly – relevant stakeholders can submit written submission:
BE AWARE – CHECK ASSEMBLY WEBSITE, NEWSPAPERS, FOLLOW ASSEMBLY ON TWITTER
Committee staff summarise submissions and recommend people or organisations to call up and give evidence. Committee Members will also make suggestions of who to call…. SHOULD REPRESENT A WIDE RANGE OF VIEWS
Clause-by-clause – careful consideration whereby committee expresses concerns it may have regarding any individual clauses and recommends any amendments as required. All decisions recorded in minutes and included in report.
Engagement with Dept on recommended amendments: Dept may agree with recommendations by Committee and agree to bring amendments in Minister’s name, otherwise Committee Chair may table amendments as set out in report.
Report published prior to consideration in Assembly – available to Members and public and shows Committee’s rationale.
ALL EVIDENCE SESSIONS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

9. Engaging: advice
Tailor evidence to terms of reference (or clauses of Bill)
Be as specific as possible: nature of problem & possible solutions
Provide evidence to support assertions
Avoid technical language / jargon (or, where unavoidable, explain)
Oral evidence:
keep to time
don’t read from script
anticipate questions: have all information / key people in attendance
keep watching brief: what are others saying?
maintain professional tone
NB: meetings are streamed live, video-recorded and transcribed!
Department provides committee with detailed explanation of Bill
Call for evidence issued publicly – relevant stakeholders can submit written submission:
BE AWARE – CHECK ASSEMBLY WEBSITE, NEWSPAPERS, FOLLOW ASSEMBLY ON TWITTER
Committee staff summarise submissions and recommend people or organisations to call up and give evidence. Committee Members will also make suggestions of who to call…. SHOULD REPRESENT A WIDE RANGE OF VIEWS
Clause-by-clause – careful consideration whereby committee expresses concerns it may have regarding any individual clauses and recommends any amendments as required. All decisions recorded in minutes and included in report.
Engagement with Dept on recommended amendments: Dept may agree with recommendations by Committee and agree to bring amendments in Minister’s name, otherwise Committee Chair may table amendments as set out in report.
Report published prior to consideration in Assembly – available to Members and public and shows Committee’s rationale.
ALL EVIDENCE SESSIONS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

10. Engaging at Committee Stage of a Bill
Initial Departmental briefing with detailed explanation of the Bill
Introduction and Second Stage debate - Plenary
Committee Stage:
- Standing Order 33: 30 working days (usually extended)
- Call for evidence (NIA website, 3 newspapers & social media)
- Receipt of written submissions
- Oral evidence sessions with selected stakeholders
- Clause by Clause scrutiny of the Bill
- Amendments recommended by Committee (may be brought by Dept.)
- Report published to inform subsequent Assembly stages
Department provides committee with detailed explanation of Bill
Call for evidence issued publicly – relevant stakeholders can submit written submission:
BE AWARE – CHECK ASSEMBLY WEBSITE, NEWSPAPERS, FOLLOW ASSEMBLY ON TWITTER
Committee staff summarise submissions and recommend people or organisations to call up and give evidence. Committee Members will also make suggestions of who to call…. SHOULD REPRESENT A WIDE RANGE OF VIEWS
Clause-by-clause – careful consideration whereby committee expresses concerns it may have regarding any individual clauses and recommends any amendments as required. All decisions recorded in minutes and included in report.
Engagement with Dept on recommended amendments: Dept may agree with recommendations by Committee and agree to bring amendments in Minister’s name, otherwise Committee Chair may table amendments as set out in report.
Report published prior to consideration in Assembly – available to Members and public and shows Committee’s rationale.
ALL EVIDENCE SESSIONS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

11. On-going Engagement / Influence
Forward-work programme
Twitter handle: @niahealth
Website
Watch live stream or video clips
Committee Reports
Stakeholder approaches:
write, send reports, invite Committee to events/ conferences etc. one-to-one meetings with members
Many opportunities to influence agenda and recommendations of Committee.

12. Committee Influence Human Transplantation Bill Mental Capacity Bill
Committee opposed: Bill did not progress to amending stages
Mental Capacity Bill
Large volume of amendments but few deriving from Committee scrutiny
Hospital Appointment Cancellation
Committee recommendation: now measured differently

13. Role of Clerk
Ensure Committee run within bounds of its powers and in compliance with Standing Orders
Advise Chair and Members
Manage business and forward-work programme
Manage team
Draft briefings, reports, speeches etc.
Contribute to broader corporate projects etc.

14. Questions?

15. Assembly Engagement
If you would like to know more about the role of the Assembly, our Engagement team offers seminars on ‘How the Assembly Works’.
For more information, please
or call